Paperless Operations Part 3 – User Involvement (VIDEO)

One of the worst mistakes you can make is replacing rental paperwork with ugly and complex screens that have had very little end-user input. 

These solutions are often proscribed by head office, alienating end users.  The typical result is a failed rollout, the rejection of a very expensive IT solution and the return to paper-based processes.

If you have experienced the frustration and anger these projects generate, you will understand the importance of user acceptance.

A tried and tested way to improve user acceptance is to involve users throughout the project, from goal setting to vendor selection to production trial and finally to full production rollout.

A practical example of user involvement is our recent work with the GAP Group, a leading UK hire company.

GAP users asked if the new mobile forms could look like the existing paper forms.

Our customer success team worked with the GAP users to achieve this goal, and it significantly improved both user-friendliness and user support.

A bridge from paper to digital

Mapping the new digital forms from the existing paperwork provided a safe bridge from the old manual processes to the new digital processes.

Another challenge for medium to large rental companies is balancing a centralised and standard digital rental process and regional and divisional requirements.  In our experience, there is a core process that works for every region and division.

For example, the inspection, repair and service workflow when equipment is off-hired is fairly standard regardless of region or division.

We find the major differences in the data that must be captured and the resulting documentation generated.  For example, a piece of lifting equipment will require a LOLER inspection form.

This is why the ability to rapidly configure forms and associate them with different types of equipment provides a good balance between central and divisional requirements.

Combining support for variation across divisions with strong user involvement speeds up the implementation and rollout of a paperless solution.

I will leave the final word to Mark Anderson, Managing Director North at GAP Group.  In July 2021, Mark said: “We selected Spartan because we were impressed by how much their software can help simplify and digitise our Workshop processes.  PHALANX will streamline tasks such as automatic customer billing on equipment return to depot.  Importantly, we have had positive feedback from our staff regarding PHALANX’s ease of use.  Spartan’s solution provides us with the dual benefit of improved customer service and increased productivity.”